A crime writer shares his thoughts on his broken city

At the "Setting the Stage for Murder" event on Sunday in Christchurch, during the New Zealand author panel that I chaired (consisting of the four 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award finalists), the audience questions took something of an unexpected turn. Often, at such events, writers get asked things like 'where do you get your ideas from?', 'how did you first get published?', 'how often/much do you write each day', etc. Basically, questions that show there are plenty of aspiring writers in the audience, hoping to discover the 'secret' to those particular authors' success.

At the Michael Connelly event in Auckland earlier this year, one gentleman asked Connelly what software he used - perhaps believing that was all that stood between him and his writing dreams? Or he was just curious.

However, the first audience question on Sunday was far more meaningful - were the writers, and Paul Cleave in particular (being Christchurch-based), considering incorporating the recent devastating Canterbury earthquakes into their future books? And if so, how did they think they would address it?

It was a question that sparked some great discussion and debate. Cleave was very clear that he would never use an earthquake as a plot device, although he couldn't say for sure that he wouldn't ever incorporate it into the setting/background to his stories at some point. Others on the panel thought it might be okay to address the earthquake after a certain time period. From memory, Neil Cross strongly believed that writers shouldn't be afraid of tackling such issues in their books. Edgar Award winner John Hart, who'd been part of the international panel with Tess Gerritsen, and was now in the audience for the New Zealand panel, asked if the authors thought there might be some obligation on writers to help people deal with such matters by writing about them, incorporating them into future stories. He pointed to some September 11-themed books that may have had that sort of effect for people - although as the Kiwi writers noted, they came out a few years after the terrorist attacks. There's always the question of when is 'too soon', and people will have wildly diverging opinions on such issues.

The discussion was certainly an interesting portion of a great event, and it was brought to mind again this morning when I came across a new blog post by a crime writer based in Christchurch, Steve Malley, who emigrated from the United States several years ago. Malley is the author of two thrillers available as e-books. You can read my 9mm interview with him from earlier this year, here.

In his post, Malley talks passionately about the devastating effects of the earthquakes on his adopted home town, and how they've changed the city in an unprecedented way.

"Way back in September (funny to think it's not quite a year yet-- it seems decades), we were all so grateful that so much was spared. Some really great stuff was lost, but for a shake that size, every damn one of us knew we'd gotten off light.

Boxing Day hammered us pretty hard, but it also left the bones of our city unscathed. No major buildings fell, no loss of life. It seemed like this was how it was going to be: scary, but doable.

February changed everything. Forever."

As the months go past, and the news cycles move on to other dramas happening here and abroad, it will be important to remember Christchurch, a beautiful city, now lying bent, if not broken, that will take a long time to recover, despite the marvellous resilience and can-do attitude of its citizens.

Speaking from my own experiences, I drove around the outskirts of the cordoned CBD area with crime writers Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon, Neil Cross, and website designer David Batterbury, after the event on Sunday. It was just devastating - people are still kept out of most of the CBD, but you can see the twisted, leaning, and badly damaged buildings, as well as plenty of blank sites where buildings once stood. I spent five years in Christchurch while at University there (college, for US readers), and it was eerie seeing how places I knew were just gone. Wiped from the map by the hand of mother nature.

You can read Malley's full blog post here.

Thoughts welcome.

[silence, for two minutes]

Christchurch earthquake - how you can help

As many of you will know, yesterday at 12:51pm NZT the city of Christchurch, which suffered a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in September last year, was struck by another massive earthquake - this time much shallower and more violent.

While the September earthquake caused significant infrastructure and property damage, there was fortunately no loss of life. The city has not been so lucky this time. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake has claimed many lives, and some people remain trapped in buildings which have come down with the force of the 'quake. Buildings facades have crushed cars and buses. The iconic Cathedral in the heart of the city, which survived the earlier 'quake and more than 1000 aftershocks, has been badly damaged (see photo), and many other historic buildings have been destroyed. The city, and the country, is in shock.

Thank you for all the messages of support I've received over email and Facebook etc. I now live in Auckland (far from the 'quake zone), but lived for five years in Christchurch, which is a wonderful city, and I have many friends who still live there. Some with young families. Those I have been able to contact thusfar are all safe, if badly shaken.

In terms of books and crime fiction related people in Christchurch, crime writer Paul Cleave has said he is okay, but feels devastated at the destruction and loss of life. Thriller writer Andrew Grant has confirmed he and his family are well, although some of his friends have lost their homes - he's taken some in. Thriller writer Steve Malley has posted on Facebook saying he is okay too. I have yet to hear from many of the fantastic people involved with the Christchurch Writer's Festival, the Ngaio Marsh Award, or the Ngaio Marsh House, but have my fingers crossed that they are all okay too. It's a terrible time for a great city, and we can only hope that the emergency service personnel continue to pull survivors from the rubble, not just bodies.

Many people from around New Zealand and around the world are watching on, concerned, feeling helpless, and wishing there was some way they could help. Christchurch is a great city, but it is going to be facing a long road to recovery. While in some ways I want to jump on a plane and go down to help hands-on, the fact is that there are many terrific, capable, expertly-trained people there (and heading there from our friends in Australia and elsewhere around the world, with many countries generously pitching in, immediately offering/sending help and resources) who are doing a great job in a tough, tough situation. Those urban search and rescue and Civil Defence volunteers are just doing an amazing job, in concert with the police, defence force, and other emergency service personnel. Let alone all the 'average citizens' who've just stepped up to help friends, colleagues, and random strangers in need. I, and many others who would like to help, would simply be getting in the way at this stage. So how can we help?

Well, a number of emergency and relief funds are starting to be activated, and many organisations are taking donations to help with relief. Prime Minister John Key has said the best way people from around New Zealand and the world can help is to make cash donations to help the city and its residents get back on their feet. Here is some donation and relief information, courtesy of the New Zealand Herald website:

Donations
People can make a donation to the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal either at an ANZ Branch (account number 01-1839-0188939-00) or at the National bank (account number 06-0869-0548507-00).

Donations can be made to the Red Cross online or via the GrabOne website, as the Red Cross site has been crashing.

Offers of goods or services can be sent to the National Crisis Management Centre in Wellington, email here.

Donations can be made to the Westpac Canterbury Care Fund, which is in partnership with the Salvation Army, either at branches nationwide or to the account number 03-0207-0617331-00.

People can donate to the Salvation Army Earthquake appeal online here or by calling 0800 53 00 00.

Donations can be made to the Rotary New Zealand World Community Service here.

Donations can be made to the Christchurch Earthquake Support Fund in ASB branches or online (account number 12-3205-0146808-00). Across the Tasman, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is also accepting donations for the New Zealand Red Cross.

The Christchurch SPCA has opened a Pet Emergency Earthquake Fund. You can donate money here or to the Westpac account 030802 0586429 00.

Vodafone users can donate to the Red Alert Canterbury Earthquake Appeal by texting "Quake" to 333 to make a $3 donation to the Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.

Whether you are in New Zealand or overseas, I hope that you will find at least one organisation above that you feel comfortable contributing towards. Our friends in Christchurch are going to need a lot of help in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, revealed*

*No, I'm not revealing who has won the 2010 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel today, but I am revealing for the first time what the trophy the winner will receive looks like!

As I've noted previously on this blog, this year will mark the first time (as far as I am aware) that an award for New Zealand crime fiction has ever been made. While the Canterbury Earthquake led to the unfortunate cancellation of the 2010 The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival, where the inaugural award was due to be made, the presentation of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel (pictured above) has merely been postponed, and a replacement event will occur sometime in the coming weeks (likely in November). I will let you know the details of the eventual event, once things have been confirmed.

So at least all of you who are reading the three finalists now have a little more time to formulate your own opinion, before the official announcement. And booksellers have more time to promote all three finalists prior to the winner being announced. If any of you need any help sourcing copies of the three finalists, or other New Zealand crime fiction, please feel free to get in touch with me and I'll do my best to help.

Turning now to the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel trophy itself; there's a bit of a story behind the design of the trophy (pictured above). We were wanting to create something that was a little different and unique, that fit the kind of slightly irreverant and low-key style of many of the other crime fiction awards around the world (eg the Edgar, the Agatha, the Macavity, the Ned Kelly, the Arthur Ellis, the Theakston, the Dagger, etc - click on any of the award names to see an image of that award) while still looking good, and was also imbued with some ideas tied to Ngaio Marsh, books, crime writing, and New Zealand. Personally I think the above award does all this.

The award has been handcrafted by Auckland sculptor and visual arts and design lecturer Gina Ferguson, and mounted by Xpress Awards. As is often the case with such creative things, what we have ended up with is quite different from the earliest discussions and ideas between an informal 'design team', which also included myself and Dr Joanne Drayton (Ngaio Marsh expert and acclaimed biographer, and a lecturer at Unitec Design School), as ideas spiralled off ideas, and the team ended up coming up with something quite unique and, I think, exciting and elegant.

In short the award looks like an old-fashioned hardcover book, opened slightly (we realised few of the awards, although they were for books, actually had books incorporated into the trophy), with a stylised etching of Dame Ngaio on the cover. The 'book' is 'flocked', which is a technique that makes it look like it has a velvety black cover, which can shimmer a bit in the light, and the stylised etching is in mother of pearl, which gives a nice simple and elegant black/white contrast, while also tying to the pearl necklaces Dame Ngaio was sometimes photographed wearing. The velvet-ish flocking kind of echoes the Golden Age, while also tying to Dame Ngaio's theatrical leanings. The stylished etching of Dame Ngaio was based on a combination of various photos - working in elements of necklace, artist's beret, wavy hair etc - while looking simple, almost like a pencil or charcoal artist's sketch (again tying to Ngaio's artistic side as well).

I understand that people have different aesthetic tastes, but having seen the Award in person, personally I think it looks quite cool, and over the years it will hopefully grow into something much-desired by crime writers down this end of the world.

What do you think?

Christchurch Writers' Festival: watch this space

As many of you will no doubt have heard, a massive earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand's second most populated city, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Fortunately, due to the timing of the quake (which I understand was a touch stronger and shallower - ie more dangerous - than the Haiti quake earlier this year that killed 230,000 people), the earthquake strengthening and building standards in force in New Zealand, the speed of response of our emergency services and Civil Defence, and the general actions of many everyday Cantabrians, the (in places severe) damage was largely confined to property and infrastruture, rather than human casualties. We got very, very lucky.

Thank you for the messages of concern from overseas. I now live in Auckland, so was well away from the earthquake, but I went to University in Christchurch, so have many friends there. Fortunately all are safe and well, although several have damaged houses.

Some of you are also no doubt wondering what this means for The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival, which was scheduled to be held in the Christchurch CBD (one of the worst-affected areas) from Thursday to Sunday this week. As I've said previously, the biennial Festival had a truly terrific programme this year, with more than 80 writers of all types featuring in more than 50 great events over the four days. In terms of crime fiction, there was to be plenty on the plate, including of course the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

Right now, I'm not sure of the Festival's status. I understand that at least one of the venues (the Repertory Theatre, pictured above - photo by Iain McGregor of The Press) has been badly damaged and will be unusable. I understand the Board of the Festival are meeting soon to determine what decisions should be made with regards to the planned events. I will let you know as soon as I know anything more.

You can see more pictures of the effects of the earthquake here, and there are also places to donate online to the Christchurch earthquake recovery - the NZ Herald has listed various ways to donate to legitimate relief organisations here.